Morgan wasn't the first boy to ever call Severa pretty. Although she thought otherwise, it couldn't be disputed that she had inherited her mother's beauty and charms, mixed with and improved by her father's own. With all that, she surely had the privilege of hearing those kinds of compliments an abundant number of times, though as expected, some of them were from her father. He had always said that she was as beautiful as her mother and one day, she'll surpass Cordelia, as children were meant to surpass their parents. Severa would have liked to believe that. One day, she'll get there, but until that day comes, she'll always just be behind her mother. In beauty or in other things, maybe.
Once again, in regards to compliments about her beauty, other men would shower her with compliments as well, mostly without batting an eye, if only for the sake of flirting and getting a favourable response from her. Other times, it was for the sake of being polite. 'Like mother, like daughter.' They'd all say. It should have pleased her, and it did, back when she wasn't drowning in her insecurities. Maybe it pleased her because at least, she had something her mother had. But like everything else, she grew tired of it because she felt as though the more she heard it, the more it began to lose its meaning.
The sad thing was, it felt like even her own father would say it out of obligation. It wasn't true of course, but her insecurities never helped her keep those thoughts away.
That was why it came to her as a surprise when Morgan had to come and say it out of the blue and she didn't feel the need to roll her eyes at him. 'I think you're really pretty; prettier when you smile.'
Morgan's words kept replaying in her head over and over again, like a broken record. It wasn't delicately put, like a proper prince had been thought to do. It wasn't theatrical, like Owain's choice of words or flowery like Inigo's. The way Morgan said it was different. It was awkwardly boyish, free of flirtatious intent or polite obligation. It was as if he spoke it completely by accident, like a secret he wished to keep to himself. He said it like it was simply the truth. Of course, he had compared her to Robin, but that was only to be expected of Morgan. Everyone knew how much he loved his mother and when she acknowledged that thought, the fact that she was compared to a woman whom Morgan held such high regards, she was strangely flustered.
'Shut up! Don't kid yourself! That idiot actually compared you to Robin! Plus, he said that you're not beautiful the same way his mother is. What does that even mean?!' she would find herself thinking as she cut across the camp. Despite that, he did say she was pretty and Morgan was sincere, isn't he? He had to be.
Severa knew Morgan wasn't the type to just give out false compliments. He was stupidly blunt sometimes, something he, Lucina and Chrom shared (much to Robin's exasperation). Knowing this, Severa couldn't bring herself to doubt him
Severa had a long list of things that she hated with a burning passion. At the top sat a portion: being on kitchen duty, tasteless and cheapskate men, being compared to her mother, getting denied of what she wants and overly clingy people. These past few days, Severa had discovered that there was one more item that she could add in the ever-growing list, and it just so happened that this item shot straight to the top, directly under the 'getting-compared-to-mother' entry. That was the reeking box.
In all honesty, Severa was not a slacker when it comes to training. No, she trained just as hard as anyone and no one could say otherwise, if her skill was anything to go by. The thing about it was that she just didn't want to show anyone how hard she trained. When you're from a hopeless future where all you had to do was survive a day longer, training was vital. It was especially more so, when your mother was deemed a calamity with legs. That was when expectations toward her shot faster than a Thoron spell because you were expected to match and uphold her legacy. It didn't help that her father was just as renowned.
Severa thought that when she went back to the past where their parents were still alive and they had more chances of beating Grima, training would be easier. She could not have been any more mistaken.
Of course, Robin had to be obsessed with reeking boxes. Such a thing was unheard of in their future because really, who would want to summon Risen when everyone else was undead already? Robin, however, seemed to live and breathe for reeking boxes, always holding three or more during mornings and summoning Risen in desolate and abandoned areas for training. She would pick a handful of Shepherds and leave them to deal with the Risen for experience, sometimes overlooking and giving them assistance when needed. Of course, they did develop experience and skills with repeated combat. More often than not, Severa would witness some romantic developments through those exercises as well, and it just baffled her as to how in Naga's name that happened (in all honesty, Severa didn't find stories that involved "he almost got impaled so I steered my horse and killed off the enemy" or "I had to skewer the enemy because I thought if I didn't, I wouldn't get another chance to confess to her" romantic at all). Despite all these great developments, Severa was getting tired of it and even dreaded the sight of such boxes, especially when all time travellers had been enduring it for a few consecutive days now. Then again, they were a bit lacking, as their parents were strong enough, particularly the royal couple who was notorious for being capable of decimating hoards of Risen by themselves.
Though Severa wished to take a break from all the agonizing training, that morning was no exception. Robin carried three of the damned boxes again and resolved to pick three groups of combatants from the future children, to be led by Cynthia, Morgan and Inigo. Severa found herself in the second group along with Gerome, Nah and Noire, who were, of course, to be led the young prince himself, Morgan.
Severa found the group effective to a point, with two aerial units, two long-ranged fighters and two who can fight at close range (had Morgan decided to use the sword at his hip). Among them, Morgan was the only one who was trained to use two types of weapons and there was an absence of healers in the group; that was a glaring weakness in their group. Despite that, Severa was confident in the preparations they had undertaken before leaving, with Morgan triple-checking everything. It was at times like these when she found herself so fascinated with the usually cheerful and chipper prince.
When they left the camp, Severa noted that her group was relatively quiet. Gerome was his ever silent self, looming above them on top of Minerva as he flew to their destination, Nah didn't say a word, not feeling the need to say anything, while Noire was mostly just too nervous to create a coherent sentence without waving her talisman around. Even Morgan hardly said anything. He was the picture of calm as they travelled to their destined combat grounds, studying the map his mother gave him before they were dispatched. It was nice to see that maybe he was formulating a plan to keep them alive, but seeing him so silent for more than five minutes felt strange to her for some reason. Of course, this wasn't the first time she saw the prince in unfiltered concentration, but she just couldn't bring herself to get used to the sight of it. When he furrowed his eyebrows and bit his lower lip slightly, he reminded her of his mother, as Severa knew that Morgan had picked up those little quirks from Robin. However, whenever he did that, he looked so much more like his father, serious and authoritative, with a gentle and assuring aura that sheltered everyone else who looked at him. Suddenly, the brand in his right eye would be much more noticeable and everyone else would be reminded of what and who Morgan really is: the tactician prince of House Ylisse, who, along with his sister, had led the new Shepherds in the war against the fell-dragon Grima.
Severa knew she must have been staring at him too much as they walked because the tactician prince moved his eyes from the map to meet hers. He looked at her quizzically for a moment before he sent her a worried smile. "Is something wrong?" he asked. Severa only sent him a cold huff and shook her head slightly and went back to looking ahead. Morgan chuckled softly and murmured "I thought so. You're not the type to worry." before going back to analysing the map. The group stayed silent after that and Severa was careful not to stare again, although she did send him a few glances every now and then.
Once they reached their destination —a dense forest near the foot of a mountain—every member of the group had gathered around, hidden under the tall trees, low into the ground. Gerome had scouted some time before they began and brought back news that sent Morgan heatedly rethinking and reformulating new tactics. According to Gerome's report, there were more Risen than what was expected of a reeking box so Morgan could only speculate that another group had appeared shortly after the first have been summoned by the accursed box. Such turn of events was not unheard of, yet rare in nature. A reeking box could only summon about ten to fifteen Risen at most, given their designated location but with the appearance of another group, it could be said that there were a total of twenty five to thirty and they were clearly outnumbered and unprepared.. However, being the stubborn tactician Morgan strived to be, he refused to admit that they were unprepared and modified whatever he could to face the situation.
Outnumbered yes, but unprepared was unforgivable by his mother's standards, and by extension, Morgan's too. A good tactician must always be prepared despite any circumstances, always one step ahead and so, Morgan continued formulating a plan based on the map Gerome had redrawn for him.
"It seems this group is a mixed of long and short ranged fighters, many of which are tome wielders, knights and bowmen. A few happen to be mercenaries too. It's a good thing mother had given us a team balanced enough, I suppose. Since there seems to be no fliers present, Gerome and for a brief moment, even Nah, could dominate the skies. Noire, you go with Gerome for a combination of long and short range attacks. While on air, Noire can focus shooting the enemies from above, mainly the mercenaries and mages. Keep an eye out on the mages and the archers, land when deemed necessary, Gerome, you can attack then, but mostly focus on the mages." Morgan instructed with practiced authority.
Gerome would have protested to being paired with Noire, but a pointed look from the talisman-carrying archer forced his mouth closed. Instead, he grunted in agreement and went to prepare another saddle on Minerva. Morgan then turned to Nah and Severa who were awaiting their orders.
"The same goes for the both of you. A combination of long and short ranged attacks. Severa will deal with the bowmen before they reach Gerome, Nah can take you up on air for a short amount of time to transport and support you. Then finish of whatever else the two of them fails to pick off." He said, offering the two girls a confident smile.
"And what about you?" Severa asked suspiciously. It wasn't as if she thought Morgan would simply lounge around and do nothing. She would never admit it out loud, but she felt quite concerned with leaving Morgan alone without a partner. The prince merely shrugged which didn't help appease the mercenary at all.
"What, don't tell me you don't have a plan for yourself?!" she wouldn't believe it, Morgan was too smart after all. The prince laughed and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. "I'll take care of the knights; their defence might seem strong, but it's actually weak against magic. Whatever else, I'll finish off with my sword."
Thirty minutes into the fight and Severa had no idea of what had become of Gerome and Noire. Last she heard, they had wiped out the mages, just as she and Nah had done with the bowmen to secure Gerome's uninterrupted flight. Morgan went off on his own and she had lost sight of him five minutes after he started scorching a nearby bush. Plus, through sheer bad luck, she was separated from Nah after the manakete chased of a group of mages good distance away, something she was cursing under her breath for a while now. She was alone and she didn't know where her comrades are or if they're even alright in the first place.
She wanted to call out her partner's name to search for her, but she knew that would be unadvisable, given her current location, surrounded by trees, and how she did not even know if there were or how many enemies were left. She opted to get out of the forest instead and walk up to the foot of the mountain where it was surprisingly clear, quite devoid of trees. She figured Gerome and Noire could not have been separated as well and Nah could just take flight, so if there was any chance of finding her, it would be better there, in the clearing, where she was easily visible from above.
Five minutes of waiting and she could already see a wyvern coming to her. Relieved that finally, someone found her, she waved her hands and called for Gerome to fly closer. Five meters from her and the wyvern started descending towards her, dangerously fast. A glimmer came from behind the head of the wyvern and Severa saw an axe rearing up its head at her as the wyvern expelled a plume of rotting breath. Severa realized a little bit too late that this wyvern was not Minerva, and that was not Gerome sitting there.
Severa fumbled with her sword. She had let her guard down and allowed her grip to slacken. Before she could bring it up, she was sure that she would be hacked up by then and there was no one to pull her out of this situation. So much for being combat ready like her mother. She figured she had much to learn. To be fair, she couldn't distinguish Minerva from the other wyverns like Gerome and Cherche could. Plus, the wyvern's hulking body always made it impossible for someone standing in front of it to see the rider and Minerva doesn't use any distinctive armor either.
Before she could think of anything else, someone had pushed her down harshly and Severa landed on her side with a loud thud and a groan, after she twisted just in time to lessen the impact of the fall. It was Morgan who had pushed her down then, and he crouched down just in time, narrowly missing the axe that the Risen swung frantically. It flew over them low enough for the wyvern to land, however the Risen quickly pulled his wyvern back up and took to the skies again, ready to dive back at them. Before it could fly higher, Morgan flipped his tome open and with practiced aim, incinerated the wyvern and its rider. Both fell to the ground before it vanished into a purple miasma. Morgan's Arcfire tome crumbled into pieces in his hands.
"Well, that's the last of it. And I thought there were no fliers." Morgan stated, turning back to Severa, who was watching him intently. Noticing her still on the ground, Morgan extended a hand to her. She was still staring up at him in wonder, amazed at how graceful he had moved just then, chanting out the spell he used on the Risen. It took her a few seconds longer to break out of her trance and when she did, she finally took notice of the blush on her cheeks. She sent him a glare, the most threatening one she could muster and slapped his hand away.
"Are you an idiot? What sort of prince shoves a lady to the ground, huh? Ugh, talk about rude!" she scolded, getting up. Morgan threw her an alarmed look and waved his hands frantically. "Ah n-no! It's just… I saw that the wyvern was about to swing his axe a-and he was flying really low, he could have hit you! A-And there was no time to tell you to duck so- I'm really, really sorry Severa!" Morgan apologized, panicking. Though Severa knew that he didn't have to apologize because it should be her who was thanking him, watching him fumble like that seemed just a bit amusing.
"Whatever! You're an insult to every other prince around. Chrom would never do that and yet you just—" before she could finish, Morgan perked up and grabbed her tightly. With strength she never knew he had, Morgan turned so that instead of standing in front of him, he held her beside him, and tightly at that. He extended a hand away, palm open.
"Morgan what are you—" as she talked, a blunt sword burrowed into the tactician prince's hand, its blade digging into the space between his ring and middle fingers. Morgan grimaced, a pained grunt escaping from his lips. It was another Risen. Severa had dropped her sword a moment ago when she fell on the ground and Morgan had used up his tome. His sword was missing from his belt as well. Severa was panicking now, close to screaming. She could see the blade digging deeper into his hand.
Morgan took a deep, slow breath and mumbled something inaudible. Suddenly, from his opened, bleeding palm, a wave of flames burst out, burning the Risen, the same way it incinerated the wyvern rider a few moments ago. It disappeared shortly and the sword stuck on Morgan's hand fell on the ground with a clang. The prince ended up kneeling on the ground, with Severa in tow.
"That was another surprise wasn't it? I didn't think that simply reciting a spell without a tome would work but I guess it's good I tried huh? Oh and I'm really sorry about that… are you alright? Severa?" he asked with a gentle smile on his face. He wasn't even paying attention to his hand. "Severa?" he repeated.
"Are you really an idiot? Are you daft? Morgan you stupid, idiotic, daft of an egghead! What is your problem? Don't you ever think before you act? Can you not act on a whim? You just start rushing around and doing everything you want to do!" Severa exclaimed. She didn't know what she was supposed to say, all she knew was that Morgan is bleeding and hurt and it's because he tried to protect her.
"W-Well. You'd get hit if I didn't." Morgan said, now examining his hands. Severa felt torn at that. She was just a bit happy that Morgan would do that for her, but also worried and angry that he had hurt himself in the process. The least she could do was thank him or say sorry for yelling at him. Say that she appreciates it.
"And look where that got you genius, you're hurt and-" and now I'm worried about you, you idiot. She nearly caught herself adding, but she just couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. "…and now everyone's going to blame me for it!" she ended up saying instead.
"No they wouldn't. They'd know that I did it because someone was in danger. Or I was careless… either one." He laughed. Severa really hated that laugh. "Wouldn't you care if you get hurt?" she asked then.
Morgan looked at her like she was a new book waiting to be opened. He looked genuinely interested in her. Then he chuckled and clenched his wounded hand into a tight fist, blood oozing out into his arm. "So long as someone you want to protect exists, then pain is non-existent, they said. Even the wisest men could act like fools in extremely dire situations." Severa looked at this boy in front of her. The son of Chrom and Robin. Everyone said he was more of his mother's. Severa could disagree. Morgan was so much like his father in so many ways.
The rapid beating of her heart was saying that she was reminiscent to Cordelia's as well. She wondered briefly if this was what her mother constantly felt around the Exalt.
